HealthyNCT00076583
Spinal Reflexes in Motor Skill Learning
An observational study of Healthy, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
This study will test a spinal cord reflex called reciprocal inhibition before, during, and after learning a motor skill to see if the reflex becomes stronger by learning the movement. People learn new motor skills throughout their lives. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any ageHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- Healthy
- How many people
- 22 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- Jan 2004to Nov 2005
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages Any age
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Healthy individuals between the ages of 21-65 years who are willing to participate in daily training sessions and physiological studies.
Who cannot join
- Any history of peripheral nerve injury, cervical radiculopathy, arthritis, tendonitis, or surgery on the wrist.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
About this study
Official title: Motor Skill Learning: Spinal Reflexes
This study will test a spinal cord reflex called reciprocal inhibition before, during, and after learning a motor skill to see if the reflex becomes stronger by learning the movement. People learn new motor skills throughout their lives. At first, performing a new skilled movement such as riding a bicycle takes effort and is clumsy, but with practice, it becomes relatively automatic. The motor cortex (a part of the brain) is very active when a new skilled movement is learned, but becomes less active when the movement is over-learned. This study will determine whether the spinal cord helps coordinate the pattern of activity between groups of muscles once a motor skill is learned.
Healthy volunteers between 21 and 65 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history and neurological examination.
Read more
Participants are divided into two groups. Group 1 has movement training sessions only and Group 2 has both movement training sessions and physiology sessions, as follows:
Movement training sessions
For 15 minutes every weekday, participants practice moving their wrist back and forth to make a cursor on the computer screen follow a target. Activity of the arm muscles is monitored with surface electrodes taped to the skin. The sessions continue until the participant can perform the movement well. Group 1 participants return to the clinic a week after the last session to perform the movement again to see if their skill level has changed. Each session lasts about 20 to 30 minutes.
Physiology sessions
In three separate sessions, the reflex for reciprocal inhibition is measured before and at several times during the movement task. This is done with nerve conduction studies. A probe placed on the skin delivers a low-intensity electrical stimulus. Wires taped to the skin record the nerve impulses. To measure reciprocal inhibition, several dozen stimuli are given to two nerves in combinations. Each session lasts 2 to 3 hours.
Read the detailed description
Objective:
Once a skilled movement is thoroughly learned, it can be performed relatively automatically. The motor cortex is active when learning a new motor skill, but becomes less activated once the skill has become over-learned. We hypothesize that learning a skilled movement is associated with more efficient use of subcortical motor circuits. Subcortical motor circuits can coordinate features of the intended movement such as the timing and patterns of activation of different muscles. The goal of this study is to determine whether learning a motor skill strengthens spinal interneuron circuits that facilitate the movement. Subjects will learn to perform a movement consisting of alternating wrist movements. The strength of reciprocal inhibition between antagonist muscles will be tested.
Study Population:
22 healthy adult volunteers
Design:
The study has two experiments. Both experiments use a within-subjects design. The purpose of the first experiment is to determine whether learning to accurately perform an alternating wrist flexion and extension movement task is associated with reduced co-contraction of wrist flexor and extensor muscles. Subjects will practice making accurate wrist flexions and extensions to keep a cursor on a target for fifteen-minute sessions every weekday until they are able to obtain 95% accuracy. Activity of the arm muscles will be monitored during the sessions with surface electrodes on the arm muscles. The first experiment will also determine the best training parameters for learning the task. In the second experiment, a second group of subjects will learn the task using the best training parameters. The strength of the reflex for reciprocal inhibition will be measured before, during and after training. Reciprocal inhibition will also be measured after the movement has become highly learned.
Outcome measures:
In the first experiment, the outcome will be the percent of movement time in which co-contraction occurs, as recorded from surface electrodes, while the subject learns to perform the movement to 95% accuracy. In the second experiment, the outcome measure is the strength of spinally mediated reciprocal inhibition, as measured using reflexes.
- Conditions
- Healthy
- Keywords
- Motor Learning, Co-contraction, Reciprocal Inhibition, Spinal Plasticity, Rhythmic Movement, Healthy Volunteer, HV
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted27 Jan 2004 (estimated)
- Study startJan 2004
- Study completionNov 2005
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (3)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for HealthyStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Enrolment
- 22 participants
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- Sponsor type
- US National Institutes of Health
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00076583
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 040107
- Other IDs
- 04-N-0107
- Status last verified
- Nov 2005
- First submitted
- 26 Jan 2004
- Last updated
- 4 Mar 2008
- Results posted
- No
Publications
Pascual-Leone A, Grafman J, Hallett M. Modulation of cortical motor output maps during development of implicit and explicit knowledge. Science. 1994 Mar 4;263(5151):1287-9. doi: 10.1126/science.8122113.
PubMed 8122113Smith ME, McEvoy LK, Gevins A. Neurophysiological indices of strategy development and skill acquisition. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1999 Jan;7(3):389-404. doi: 10.1016/s0926-6410(98)00043-3.
PubMed 9838200Honda M, Deiber MP, Ibanez V, Pascual-Leone A, Zhuang P, Hallett M. Dynamic cortical involvement in implicit and explicit motor sequence learning. A PET study. Brain. 1998 Nov;121 ( Pt 11):2159-73. doi: 10.1093/brain/121.11.2159.
PubMed 9827775
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 4 Mar 2008. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Motor Skill Learning: Spinal Reflexes
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT00076583
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 040107
- Conditions
- Healthy
- Keywords
- Motor Learning, Co-contraction, Reciprocal Inhibition, Spinal Plasticity, Rhythmic Movement, Healthy Volunteer, HV
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 22 participants
- Lead sponsor
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)US National Institutes of Health
- Study start
- Jan 2004
- Study completion
- Nov 2005
- First posted
- 27 Jan 2004 (estimated)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study will test a spinal cord reflex called reciprocal inhibition before, during, and after learning a motor skill to see if the reflex becomes stronger by learning the movement. People learn new motor skills throughout their lives. At first, performing a new skilled movement such as riding a bicycle takes effort and is clumsy, but with practice, it becomes relatively automatic. The motor cortex (a part of the brain) is very active when a new skilled movement is learned, but becomes less active when the movement is over-learned. This study will determine whether the spinal cord helps coordinate the pattern of activity between groups of muscles once a motor skill is learned.
Healthy volunteers between 21 and 65 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history and neurological examination.
Participants are divided into two groups. Group 1 has movement training sessions only and Group 2 has both movement training sessions and physiology sessions, as follows:
Movement training sessions
For 15 minutes every weekday, participants practice moving their wrist back and forth to make a cursor on the computer screen follow a target. Activity of the arm muscles is monitored with surface electrodes taped to the skin. The sessions continue until the participant can perform the movement well. Group 1 participants return to the clinic a week after the last session to perform the movement again to see if their skill level has changed. Each session lasts about 20 to 30 minutes.
Physiology sessions
In three separate sessions, the reflex for reciprocal inhibition is measured before and at several times during the movement task. This is done with nerve conduction studies. A probe placed on the skin delivers a low-intensity electrical stimulus. Wires taped to the skin record the nerve impulses. To measure reciprocal inhibition, several dozen stimuli are given to two nerves in combinations. Each session lasts 2 to 3 hours.
Detailed description
Objective:
Once a skilled movement is thoroughly learned, it can be performed relatively automatically. The motor cortex is active when learning a new motor skill, but becomes less activated once the skill has become over-learned. We hypothesize that learning a skilled movement is associated with more efficient use of subcortical motor circuits. Subcortical motor circuits can coordinate features of the intended movement such as the timing and patterns of activation of different muscles. The goal of this study is to determine whether learning a motor skill strengthens spinal interneuron circuits that facilitate the movement. Subjects will learn to perform a movement consisting of alternating wrist movements. The strength of reciprocal inhibition between antagonist muscles will be tested.
Study Population:
22 healthy adult volunteers
Design:
The study has two experiments. Both experiments use a within-subjects design. The purpose of the first experiment is to determine whether learning to accurately perform an alternating wrist flexion and extension movement task is associated with reduced co-contraction of wrist flexor and extensor muscles. Subjects will practice making accurate wrist flexions and extensions to keep a cursor on a target for fifteen-minute sessions every weekday until they are able to obtain 95% accuracy. Activity of the arm muscles will be monitored during the sessions with surface electrodes on the arm muscles. The first experiment will also determine the best training parameters for learning the task. In the second experiment, a second group of subjects will learn the task using the best training parameters. The strength of the reflex for reciprocal inhibition will be measured before, during and after training. Reciprocal inhibition will also be measured after the movement has become highly learned.
Outcome measures:
In the first experiment, the outcome will be the percent of movement time in which co-contraction occurs, as recorded from surface electrodes, while the subject learns to perform the movement to 95% accuracy. In the second experiment, the outcome measure is the strength of spinally mediated reciprocal inhibition, as measured using reflexes.
Study design
Who may qualify
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Healthy individuals between the ages of 21-65 years who are willing to participate in daily training sessions and physiological studies.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Any history of peripheral nerve injury, cervical radiculopathy, arthritis, tendonitis, or surgery on the wrist.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Primary outcome
Not reported in the source record.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 4 Mar 2008.
- Background: PubMed 8122113Pascual-Leone A, Grafman J, Hallett M. Modulation of cortical motor output maps during development of implicit and explicit knowledge. Science. 1994 Mar 4;263(5151):1287-9. doi: 10.1126/science.8122113.
- Background: PubMed 9838200Smith ME, McEvoy LK, Gevins A. Neurophysiological indices of strategy development and skill acquisition. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1999 Jan;7(3):389-404. doi: 10.1016/s0926-6410(98)00043-3.
- Background: PubMed 9827775Honda M, Deiber MP, Ibanez V, Pascual-Leone A, Zhuang P, Hallett M. Dynamic cortical involvement in implicit and explicit motor sequence learning. A PET study. Brain. 1998 Nov;121 ( Pt 11):2159-73. doi: 10.1093/brain/121.11.2159.
Related trials for Healthy
Not yet recruitingObservational study
Collection and Distribution of Blood Components From Healthy Donors for In Vitro Research Use
Blood Donors, Apheresis
Not yet recruitingPhase 1
Dynamic Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Human Subarachnoid Space Using Intrathecal Gadolinium Contrast
Healthy Volunteers
Enrolling by invitationObservational study
Connors Protocol for the Management and Use of Stored Human Specimens (Stored Human Specimens)
Healthy Volunteer Samples
RecruitingObservational study
Viral Infections in Healthy and Immunocompromised Hosts
Anogenital Herpes, COVID-19
RecruitingPhase 1
A Study in Healthy People to Compare How 2 Different Formulations of Vicadrostat / Empagliflozin Tablets Are Taken up in the Body
Healthy
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of Healthy, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 4 Mar 2008. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00076583, which also lists 3 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 4 Mar 2008.